Weekly Photo Challenge: “Geometry”

Stairway to Escher

Again, it’s been weeks since I’ve participated in one of these challenges so this Urbex piece is my contribution for the latest theme.

The stairwell of the Hamilton Workers Arts and Heritage Centre is probably no big deal to most but to me, it’s so fantastically Escheresque. The optical illusion of this space; created by the many angles, similar tones, and seemingly incongruous shadows, is so phenomenal that whether you’re up top looking down or at the bottom looking up, you have to stop and look carefully at your surroundings to remind yourself of which way is up or down. Sometimes it’s just not enough to sense gravity.

I can imagine figures walking on the dimensions as if they were upside down or rightside up.

Back in the 80’s, Jim Henson and Frank Oz produced a film called Labrynth in which there was an Escheresque scene where David Bowie’s wizard charachter walked along physics-defying staircases. The more recent film Inception also had a dream sequence with a seemingly looping staircase in an office setting. I love this stuff.

Crazy stairs! I’ve seen many pictures of this kind, but this one is certainly one of the bests. You can really get vertigo from looking at it.

And WEEEEE! to using the theme I love. It’s perfect for you, not just because I use it, but because you deserve to use it better than I do. :D Ow, it’s YOUR OPTION to put the widgets in the footers instead of sidebars. It will make your pictures even larger for better viewing. Seriously, perfect for a photoblog like yours.

Yes, I really had to decide on a better format to maximize the images while keeping important links present through widgets. I think this works the best so far. Additionally, I wanted the main blog to match the format I adopted for the Hammer Home Street Photography Project.